Clay Osborne to represent Porsche Motorsport Australia in Porsche Junior Shootout

Clay Osborne will take on some of the best young drivers in the world after being nominated by Porsche Motorsport Australia to take part in the 2026 Porsche Junior Shootout at Circuit Portimão in Portugal next month.

Osborne leads the Porsche Michelin Junior Championship with still two rounds to go, however nominations are not fully based on on-track performances – but also other traits that make a complete race car driver.

This included a demanding three-day training camp at Tamborine Mountain Glades and the Porsche Experience at the RACQ Mobility Centre at Mount Cotton in April.

Fifteen drivers were tested physically and mentally by the team at Focus Driver Performance, before their car control skills were observed by Porsche Track Experience Instructors.

**Clay Osborne competing at the 2026 Repco Bathurst 1000**

“It’s something that I’ve been aiming for over the last couple of years since joining Porsche Equity-One Carrera Cup Australia,” commented Osborne.

“I was extremely excited to get the nomination and really looking forward to representing Australia over in Portugal.

“When everybody joins these Carrera Cup championships around the world it’s always the push to go to the Shootout and it’s an awesome experience.

“The last junior that was from this side of the world (New Zealand) was Jaxon Evans so it would be awesome if I could fill his shoes.”

An impressive list of young drivers has been nominated by Porsche Motorsport Australia over the years including Bayley Hall, Matt Campbell, Jaxon Evans, Andre Heimgartner, Nick Foster, Jordan Love, Cameron Hill and Dylan O’Keeffe.

The winner of the Shootout receives a scholarship prize towards contesting a season of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Championship.

From Waikato in New Zealand, Osborne was a successful karter, winning the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Italy in 2019.

He would then go on to race Toyota 86’s in New Zealand before stepping into Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge in late 2023.

Osborne made his Carrera Cup Australia debut at the Gold Coast 2024 and would claim his breakthrough round win at Darwin this year driving for TekworkX.